Confrontation With Congress Possible : President Vetoes Resolution to Reopen Talks With Japan About FSX Fighter

WASHINGTON — President Bush, as expected, Monday vetoed a congressional resolution that sought to impose additional conditions on America’s agreement to join with Japan in building the proposed FSX advanced fighter.

The White House veto sets up a potential confrontation with Congress over the controversial military project, which opponents contend would help Japan develop its own commercial airliner in direct competition with U.S. manufacturers.

The resolution, which was approved by lawmakers after FSX opponents failed to block it outright, put Congress on record as insisting that U.S. firms be awarded “at least 40%” of any future production contracts for the fighter, which is to be patterned after the American-made F-16. It also was aimed at barring the United States from providing Tokyo with key technologies for building the engine for the new plane.

Earlier this year, the Bush Administration won Japanese concessions, including provisions that U.S. firms would receive at least 40% of the FSX development work, that helped thwart congressional efforts to kill the deal.

Although the White House considered the additional restrictions sought by Congress unenforceable, Administration officials objected in principle to a provision demanding that Bush review the agreement with the secretary of commerce and to another requiring the General Accounting Office to monitor the agreement as unwarranted intrusions on presidential authority.

The measure contained provisions that “unconstitutionally infringe” on the powers of the President to make foreign policy, Bush said in a letter to lawmakers.

Congress can override the veto by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate.

The Senate will get the first opportunity to do that. It would go to the House only if the Senate votes against Bush.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said Monday that “it would be a very close vote. I can’t predict the outcome.”

The resolution passed the House in early June with less than the two-thirds margin needed to override, but some of those who voted against it were opposed because they did not consider the restrictions harsh enough.

The State Department warned that the congressional resolution might force Washington to reopen FSX negotiations with Tokyo, a move that could scuttle the project and encourage Japan to build the fighter on its own. Bush underscored that warning in his veto message.

Some See It as Mistake

“To reopen discussions now for additional and needless changes can only damage prospects for a successful agreement. If this occurs, substantial injury to the U.S.-Japan security relationship is likely and the considerable commercial and strategic benefits to the United States will be lost,” he said.

But two key opponents of the accord, House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), said Bush’s veto was a mistake.

“The relationship between Congress and the executive branch . . . must be based on recognition that Congress is responsible under the Constitution for looking out for the interests of the U.S. in world trade,” Danforth said in a statement.

And Gephardt complained that “President Bush still doesn’t understand that our national security and economic security go hand in hand. Deals made in the name of national security must balance economic concerns.”